


Changes

by grasping4light (serenamaes)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, SHEITH - Freeform, Sheith Quote Week 2017, Sheithquoteweek, keithxshiro, sfw, shiroxkeith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 09:30:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13097250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenamaes/pseuds/grasping4light
Summary: A short for Day 5 of Sheith Quote Week 2017. This time, Keith ponders the idea of life if Shiro hadn't come into it, and he realizes that he needs him more than he previously thought.





	Changes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [matsuoasuka](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=matsuoasuka).



_You. I want to tell you so much. To breathe you in and whisper into your ear. To tell you how much you mean to me._

_If it weren’t for you, my life would have been much different. I wouldn’t be here, holding you. I would never know your warmth, your compassion, and your strength. Nor would I understand what it meant to lead, much less what it means to live; to enjoy life and the little moments, losing yourself in the present with friends and family._

_I wouldn’t understand what it meant to focus._

Keith stood, staring at the cryopod as Shiro rested. The thoughts ran through his head faster than he could ever say them, write them, but something told him that Shiro understood. He knew, despite the silence. Despite the light hum that echoed from the power generator, the glass between them, and that gripping fear that held him close. 

“Don’t leave me again.” Keith managed, gripping onto air, something, anything, until his nails dug into the leather of his gloves. 

All of this had been because of him. Following him to the Garrison, watching over him as he fought to recover from trauma and pain, all while learning how to manage on his own. All of it was because of the veteran before him. He would never have been a part of Voltron if it weren’t for Shiro, either.

Voltron.

Keith paused and looked toward the door. These visits became a ritual after they found him again. He would stop by, just before bed, to make sure the machine was still working, that Shiro was still recovering. It would be just a few quintants until he would be back to normal. Coran promised. Of course, the cryopods were better than any medical center in the galaxy. And Keith struggled to trust him. 

What if they weren’t? 

He shook himself out of it and made his way back to bed, knowing he would come back in the morning, before the others awoke. Even though, he had waited so long to sleep. But he still couldn’t sleep. He fought it. Staring at the ceiling, trying to make constellations of the small speckles in the white spaceship ceiling. 

_Where would I be without you?_

_There’s no way of knowing, but it wouldn’t be here. I would still be alone, waiting for something to happen. Anything, just so I could react. I wouldn’t have come to terms with my temper, or attempted to use it to my advantage. I would still be sitting in the desert, waiting for someone to come home._

_Now I’m waiting for you. But it’s where I want to be._

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He could see Shiro beside him, lying next to him with that soft smile on his face. 

“Are you ever going to go to sleep?” 

It hurt, it was so real, so close, calling him to sleep. 

“Don’t worry about me.” He promised. “I’ll be fine.” 

Come back to me.

The door opened to his room, and Keith shot up in the bed, reaching for his blade automatically. But Shiro stood in the doorway, that same reassuring look on his face. “Relax,” he made his way into the room, and the door close quietly. “You think after being in one of those things you wouldn’t be tired,” he knelt onto the bed, “But I’m still tired.” 

“Shiro,” Keith couldn’t help but grin, wrapping his arms around the man’s neck. “Don’t scare me like that.” 

“I told you I’d be fine.” 

“Yeah, but that went real well the last time.” 

“You worry too much,” he made his way beneath the blankets, pulling the smaller paladin close. “But I appreciate it.” 

“Geez, is it really that cold in the pods?” Keith squirmed, trying to get out of Shiro’s grasp. “You’re like ice!” 

“Then maybe you should help warm me up.” 

He stared into those dark eyes, and Shiro was grinning, laughing as he attacked Keith with playful kisses, and the boy responded in kind, pressing himself against that strong chest and whispering against his lips. 

“Thanks for coming back.” 

“I wouldn’t dream of staying away.” 

“Good.” 

_Because I really don’t know where I would be without you._


End file.
